How to make Mackie Control work with Ardour

In the Mixbus/Ardour Midi-preferences I clicked on "MMC"+"MTC"+"Midi device ..."
and that caused the error "Mackie protocol couldn´t be initialized"
The error log showed up in addition "The mackie is used by MMC (Midi device ...) already"
"MMC" isn´t a problem if checked, but the other options !

So I unchecked "MTC" + "Midi device ..." and the faders flied ! :)

Thanks Seablade for the patience !

Will the mackie protocol for Mixbus/Ardour be upgraded ?
For example the transport display and more profound functions ?

Yep that is a fairly important detail that wasn't reported;) Yes this indicates that you had the port configuration wrong. On the flip side if you had replaced the ardour.rc file with mine above I believe it would have cleared out your configuration, part of why I wanted you to try it:)

Will the mackie protocol for Mixbus/Ardour be upgraded ?
For example the transport display and more profound functions ?

This is a fairly loaded question. First let me ask, what you you mean by 'transport display'?

The original code was written by John Anderson some time ago for Ardour. I have helped with bugfix patches on occasion with it and did the original testing on the Mackie, but Ardour itself is very difficult to implement the Mackie protocol in more usefulness on due to there being no built in EQ, etc.

Mixbus on the other hand could be done in more detail, however I have not had time to do any coding whatsoever in some time, and as a result it hasn't been done as of yet. That isn't to say it won't be, in fact I am still hoping to rewrite the Mackie code for Ardour 3 which a future version of Mixbus is likely to be based off of(Currently it is based off Ardour 2) but not for some time. In the meantime if I ever get time it is not out of the question for me to update it for Mackie, but even more useful would be if others wanted to step up and take on the task, I can help them with this should they decide to and all the Logic Protocol code in Ardour and Mixbus both is open source. The mapping of functions in Mixbus is much easier due to the built in features of Mixbus(It makes sense what oyu expect to happenw hen you hit the 'EQ' button for instance in Mixbus, whereas in Ardour it could mean any of 3+ EQs you have inserted, and in Mixbus v2 will be even better in this regards.

@MD: the alphatrack has nothing whatsoever to do with the Mackie. There may be a kernel driver for it that makes it appear as a standard MIDI device that sends MIDI messages when you operate specific buttons etc., but I'm not sure of its status or availability for various distributions. Unfortunately it turns out that both of Frontier's excellent control devices (Tranzport and Alphatrack) require USB support that isn't easily available in user-space on Linux, thus making it hard to properly provide support for them without resorting to a kernel driver. I know that several distributions did include the one for the Tranzport, but I'm not sure about the Alphatrack one.

In a few words: it might just work, but it might also be a complete time waster to try to make it work if it doesn't do so right away.

I know that there are different protocols for the Mackie and the Alphatrack, but I wanted to know if the steps to make the Alphatrack work are the same as for the MCU !
(e.g. with Pete Yandell's MIDI Patchbay)
I am on MAc OS 10.6.6 and not on Linux !
Under windows there exists a protocol file for the Alphatrack for e.g. Cubase, Logic, Nuendo etc. !
So the respective program provides a seperate control menu under the control panel menues !
Unfortunately not for Mac OS !

Did anyone had success to run the Alphatrack on Mixbus/Ardour on Mac OS ?

I'm having trouble with connecting my MCU Pro with Mixbus 1.5.1
I'm using USB v.s midi
I have follow the same instructions below.
When on step 5&6 I have four other options MCU Pro USB v3.1 port 1-4
Please advise?

1. Open Mixbus
2. Create a New Session
3. Add 4-8 tracks(Just so you can see that something happens when you activate the Mackie)
4. Open Pete Yandell's MIDI Patchbay
5. In MIDI Patchbay route from mcu_out to your MIDI port with your MCU plugged in
6. Also in MIDI Patchbay, route from your MIDI port with your MCU to mcu_in
7. In Mixbus, activate the Mackie Protocol
See if your faders jump

I'm having trouble with connecting my MCU Pro with Mixbus 1.5.1
I'm using USB v.s midi
I have follow the same instructions below.
When on step 5&6 I have four other options MCU Pro USB v3.1 port 1-4
Please advise?

1. Open Mixbus
2. Create a New Session
3. Add 4-8 tracks(Just so you can see that something happens when you activate the Mackie)
4. Open Pete Yandell's MIDI Patchbay
5. In MIDI Patchbay route from mcu_out to your MIDI port with your MCU plugged in
6. Also in MIDI Patchbay, route from your MIDI port with your MCU to mcu_in
7. In Mixbus, activate the Mackie Protocol
See if your faders jump